A pair of identical twin babies has been delivered by a pair of identical twin nurses at a US hospital.
Sisters Tori Howard and Tara Drinkard have both worked for five years at Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Centre in Georgia, where they were themselves born 26 years ago and where Rebecca Williams went into labour last month with fellow twin girls Emma and Addison.
For the first time since Tara recently moved from the hospital’s emergency department both sisters were working in the delivery unit at the same time – and they worked together to help deliver the newborn twins.
Tori works in the neonatal intensive care unit and looked after the newborns while Tara, who is now a member of the centre’s labour and delivery unit, was caring for their mother after her C-section.
“When Tara first started working in the labour and delivery unit, we knew we’d cross paths in the delivery room eventually,” Tori said after the birth.
“But we never imagined our first experience would be with twin girls.
“It was really special having her there and working with her.”
Tara said she did not realise she would be in the delivery room that day until around 10 minutes beforehand, when the newborns’ mother was reassigned to her as a patient.
“It was so special to be in the twins’ delivery with Tori,” she said.
“It’s always been my dream to work in labour and delivery, even before I started nursing school, so to do that alongside my best friend makes it even sweeter.”
The newborns Emma and Addison were released from hospital on Thursday but their father Brannan Williams hopes their relationship with the nurses that delivered them will continue.
“(Tara and Tori) have become our friends,” he told CNN.
“I look forward to letting the girls know about this one day, and hopefully they’ll get to meet them and keep carrying this thing on.”
